With God, Anything is Possible

I grew up hearing my mom tell me the story below. This event significantly shaped my mom’s young faith. Just three weeks before her death my mom wrote this story down in an email so that it could be shared at her funeral (which it was). I hope this story can encourage you, reminding you that God hears you, cares for you, acts for your good, and is able to do anything.

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When I was 17 God taught me a huge, life changing lesson about faith through an incident with my contact lens. In high school because of the ministry of Young Life, I heard the gospel and began my relationship with Jesus. I was in Switzerland on a Young Life European tour and realized, to my surprise, that many of the people on this so called “Christian” trip didn’t even believe in Jesus. I had just been discussing with one of the leaders of the trip whether Jesus was real or not (he was mocking my young faith) when we exited a mountain tram on to a gravel road back to our chalet. This road was about 1/2 mile long and was shared by people in hiking boots, cattle, and cars. Suddenly the rain and wind caused my contact lens, which had come out, to fly away…….somewhere on this road. We could not find it anywhere and the trip leader I had been speaking to 10 minutes before said, “Where is your God for you now? Will your faith in him get you your contact lens back?” It was an impossible situation. I couldn’t see out of one eye. Later back in my room I wrote about this experience in my journal, which I still have.

The next day I was walking back to the tram area on this gravel and dirt road while talking with God. I had read in my Bible that if we have faith as tiny as a mustard seed, mountains can be moved. Here I was in the beautiful Swiss Alps and I told God I didn’t know how to have that kind of faith. It wasn’t an audible voice, but I heard him suggest in my mind, “Joany, it’s not that you must have faith in what my WILL to do is, it’s that you have faith that I am ABLE to do anything.” I answered back in my heart that of course I believed God could help me find my contact, that he was able and I’d really love that, but I didn’t know his will. Immediately I felt a very strong sense to bend down and as I looked into a puddled tire track I saw my contact lens! Unbelievable! It was unscratched, perfect, and I was able to see for the rest of the trip. When I told Steve, the trip leader who questioned my faith in Jesus, he was speechless. Months later he called me from his college back east to let me know he had begun his own relationship with Jesus and was greatly influenced by that experience in Switzerland.

So during my cancer journey I’ve always believed in God’s ability to heal me……never questioned it……but his will I don’t know of course. His will is perfect and I trust him and HIS timing of when I’m supposed to go home to Heaven.